Given that with time the insecurity currently plaguing Nigeria will soon have an impact on farm output, I hope the government is considering emergency measures to combat food production shortages

Ayo Akinfe

[1] Given that farm production is certain to be significantly reduced as a lot of Nigerian farmers have had to abandon production due to the activities of Fulani herdsmen, bandits and kidnappers, our government needs to start thinking of a contingency plan to avoid a food security crisis

[2] Last year, vice president Professor Yemi Osinbajo put together a policy document titled “Bouncing Back: The Nigerian Economic Sustainability Plan.” It called for the mass cultivation of between 20,000 and 100,000 hectares of new farmlands in each state. We need to see some action on the implementation of this programme

[3] We also need to come up with a rural farming security programme that will guarantee safety in villages. Police presence in rural Nigeria is very minimal so maybe we need a special directorate to offer security for farmers

[4] If we are seeing farmers go to the farms less, it is inevitable that we need to step up the use of hybrid seedlings to guarantee bigger yields per hectare

[5] Now, for me, given that agriculture is one sector where we can get immediate gains as crops can become available within a year, we need to place a serious emphasis on rural road construction under the public works programme. Nigeria is the world’s sixth largest agricultural producer but up to one third of our farm produce goes to waste because of poor transportation, distribution, storage and refrigeration facilities. I want to see an agricultural bank offer zero interest loans for the purchase of refrigerated trucks and lorries

[6] In every one of our 774 local government areas we have poor roads. I cannot think of one local government area in Nigeria where rural roads are not waterlogged during the rainy season. Just imagine you are a tomato farmer and picture what happens to your produce when the lorry carrying them from your farm to the local government headquarters hits a pot hole

[7]  We are the world’s number one producer of cassava, yam, cashew, kolanuts, egusi, shea nuts, bitter leaf, agbalumo, coco yam, etc and are among the top 10 producers of cocoa, palm oil, pineapples, groundnuts, pappaya, coconuts, gum arabic, neem, etc. These products need to be ringfenced with farmers producing them guaranteed automatic access to single digit agricultural loans

[8] Our state governors are currently obsessed with building flyovers, roundabouts and dual carriageways in their capitals. As nice as it is to have such good-looking urban structures, that is not the main priority for now. In every state, I would like to see about 75% of the road budget dedicated to rural areas

[9] In the 1930s, Germany initiated a public works programme to engage its millions of unemployed youths and man, did it succeed. We may need s similar progranmme targeted at rural Nigeria with armies of youths employed to grow crops and build roads

[10] We also need a policy under which local government chairmen are compelled to build a road linking every village within their domain to the local government headquarters. State governors should then be compelled to build roads linking every local government headquarters with the capital. Only then can we tap into the potential agriculture provides